


How To Celebrate An Inventor's Birthday

by clowchan



Category: Chitty Chitty Bang Bang - All Media Types, Trouble in the Heights (2011)
Genre: Birthdays, Bonding, Family Bonding, Fluff, Food, M/M, Presents
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-08
Updated: 2020-12-08
Packaged: 2021-03-09 18:21:31
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,521
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27950687
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/clowchan/pseuds/clowchan
Summary: Caractacus' birthday is coming up and the twins and Nevada discuss what to get him
Relationships: Caractacus Potts/Nevada Ramirez
Comments: 6
Kudos: 17
Collections: Nevactacus





	How To Celebrate An Inventor's Birthday

“Hey.”

Jemima and Jeremy look up from their school books, finding Nevada with his arms crossed, peering down at them.

Jeremy asks, “Are we in trouble?”

Nevada tilts his head, “Not yet.”

“ _Not yet?_ ” Jemima repeats, looking suspiciously at him.

“Need your help,” Nevada says as he walks into the dining room.

“ _Really?_ ” The both of them ask, surprised, placing their books down.

“With what, Mr Nevada?” Jemima wonders.

“Your father.”

“ _Is he ok?!_ ” Jeremy queries, frowning.

“ _Tranquilízate_. Yes.” He rubs the bridge of his nose as he sits across from them. “Since you know your father better than me, I need gift ideas.”

Jemima inquires, “For his birthday?”

“Yeah, what type of shi- Things does he like other than machines?”

“If you want that info, you must pay us,” Jemima demands.

Jeremy glances over to his sister and whispers, “ _Jemima_.”

Nevada smirks, playing with one of his rings, “Are you really negotiating a deal with me? That’s ballsy.”

“Yes,” Jemima conveys confidently.

Jeremy asks, “What’s _‘ballsy’_?”

“A term I might have to put money in the swear jar later.” He clasps his hands together, “Name your price, _Pistolita_.”

She places a finger on her lips and thinks for a moment. “Ice cream sundaes, a gigantic bag of candy, and $5 each.”

“ _Dios_ , you’re pricey,” Nevada clicks his tongue, drumming his fingers on the table.

“I could charge you more,” she side eyes him, trying her best to play it cool.

Her retort made Nevada smile for a second. “Fine, you have a deal.”

She holds her hand out, “We have to shake on it. Daddy taught us that.”

Nevada looks very amused. “Did he?”

“Mmm hmmm,” they both nod. Nevada gently shakes her hand.

“So the info?” he requests.

“Well, Daddy loves sweets, especially caramels. No coconut cause he doesn’t like it,” Jemima informs.

“That explains why he cho... _Never mind_ ,” he says out loud, garnering confused reactions from the twins. He quickly changes the subject, “What else?”

“He loves informational books,” she continues.

“Especially on how things work and on automachines!” Jeremy expresses excitedly.

“ _Automatons_ , Jem,” Jemima corrects him.

“Oops, that’s what I meant,” he laughs as he shrugs.

“And there’s this one item he really wants cause he talks about it sometimes.”

Jeremy remembers, “Oh yeah! But isn’t it machine-like?”

“Sorta,” she scratches her temple.

“What is it?” Nevada looks curiously at them.

“This astro...” It takes Jeremy a moment to remember the word. “An astronomical watch he really wants.”

“We passed by it at one of the very fancy shops last week,” Jemima adds.

“Daddy wanted it, but I think it was too much money.”

“And then after…” Jemima does her best Caractacus impersonation, “ _Wasn’t that watch lovely, children?”_

Nevada snickers, “That’s very good.”

“Thank you.” Jemima continues, “And we’ll pass by it on our walks to the park.”

“Wish we could get it for him, but we don’t have enough,” Jeremy frowns.

“I’ll get it,” Nevada states immediately.

“ _You will?!_ ” They couldn’t contain their excitement.

“Yes, your father is worth it,” he blurts out, pursing his lips.

“Wow, you must really like him,” Jemima holds her head in her hands, smiling.

“Maybe,” he shrugs.

Jeremy peers up at him, trying not to laugh, “We won’t tell. Promise!”

Nevada crosses his arms again, “Thanks. Remember what store it was?”

Jemima responds, “It has _time_ in the name, I believe.”

“ _Bien_ , I think I know where it is.” He takes out his phone and taps it a few times. “What are you brats getting him?”

“Making and it’s a secret,” Jemima reveals.

Nevada puts his phone away and pulls out his wallet, “I’ll give you another 5 each if you tell me.”

“You can buy secrets? We should try that for Christmas!” Jeremy rubs his chin at the idea.

“Sometimes you can but you didn’t hear that from me.” Nevada’s eyes go dark for a moment and then he shakes his head. “So what are you making?”

“10 dollars first, please,” Jemima commands, holding her hand out.

“So demanding,” Nevada pulls out two 5 dollar bills and gives it to her.

“We’re making little toy cars that move on their own,” she specifies as she passes a five to Jeremy, who places the bill in his vest.

“We haven’t got them moving on their own yet, but we’re close!” Jeremy says with much optimism. “Unless you know how to.”

“You know I don’t know shi-... nothin’ about mechanics,” Nevada huffs.

Jeremy smiles, “We’re also making him a cake! You can help if you want to.”

“Are you kids allowed to use that crazy thing?” Nevada tilts his head back to the Breakfast Machine.

“Yes. We have experience with how it works,” Jemima laughs. “We’ve lived with it our entire lives.”

“And we’ll be using a normal oven,” Jeremy adds.

“ _Normal…_ ” Nevada raises his eyebrows, “Little kids can use ovens?”

“Course. We’re 9, _not 2_.” Jemima seemed like it insulted her but brushes it off.

Nevada almost laughs. “I haven’t been a kid in years.”

“We know,” Jemima states. “Although we will need adult supervision and you’re an adult so you can watch us!”

“ _I guess_. Don’t want you burning the apartment down,” Nevada says. “What sort of cake are you making?”

Jeremy exclaims, “Chocolate caramel cake!”

Jemima adds, “It’s his favourite! We’re using Mummy’s recipe for it.”

Nevada glances curiously at them, “Oh. You’ve made this before?”

“With Mummy yeah, but never by ourselves,” she almost gazes down but keeps eye contact with Nevada.

“Crackpott won’t get sad?” As soon as the words left his mouth, he regretted it. “ _Shit_ , sorry, I didn’t mean to-”

Jemima interjects, “It’s ok! He’s gotten store stuff but claims it’s not the same. Food never makes Daddy sad.”

“Unless it’s olives or coconut or black pudding,” Jeremy lists off with his fingers. “Actually wait, those gross him out more than make him sad.”

“Plus, you’re here to cheer him up if he gets sad,” Jemima admits.

“ _I make him happy?_ ” The idea still sounded foreign to Nevada.

Jemima enthusiastically nods, “Mmm hmmm, a lot!”

Nevada holds back the smile that plays on his lips. “Interesting.”

The door opens, and Caractacus walks in. “I hope they were on their best behaviour,” he announces as the three of them turn around.

Nevada grins, “We’re in one piece, no?”

“That’s comforting to hear,” he cocks an eyebrow.

The twins hug him tight. “We’re ok and Mr Nevada is too,” they tell him. “We finished our readings and homework.”

“Fantastic!” He walks over to Nevada in a spirited step. “Thanks for watching them last minute, Dear.” He kisses his cheek and whispers in his ear, “You’ll be rewarded tonight.” He clears his throat as Nevada smirks and places his jacket on a coat hook, “Someone actually bought that train set I made. The one that lights up in different colours and can run on vegetable oil.”

“That’s great, Daddy!” they clap.

“And even better, other people seem to be interested in them. I’ll certainly be busy for the next couple of months.”

“I hope not too busy for me,” Nevada pretends to pout.

“Nev, never,” Caractacus wraps an arm around his shoulders. “Between this and the part-time job things are looking up.”

Nevada asks, “You actually like working at Felix’s?”

“Indeed. And he lets me fix stuff there.”

“Not for free, yes?”

“Sometimes, but it’s for my benefit.”

* * *

The day of Caractacus’ birthday arrives, most of which was uneventful. He was busy on a new project in his work room while the twins, with Nevada supervising, got to work on the cake. There was a medium-sized book propped up next to the stove that they read. Before long they had various ingredients laid out. Even Nevada was impressed. He had asked if he could help and twins gave him the task of helping with the frosting and caramel sauce. As they whipped up the cake batter, the oven reached the right temperature. The twins separated the batter into three cake pans. They carefully put them into the oven. Jeremy sets the timer.

While the cakes bake, the twins clean the counters. They leave the frosting and sauce ingredients alone. (And they may or may not have licked the batter off the spoons. Nevada wasn’t going to tell.)

Caractacus pops out of the workshop to grab something from the living room. “Smells delicious in here. What are you two up to?”

Jemima responds, “ _Three._ And it’s a surprise, Daddy.”

Caractacus reacts confused at first. “Three?” Her answer hit him, “Nevada, you’re helping them?”

“Don’t act _that_ shocked,” he places his hands on his hips. “They caught me on a good day.”

“Ha,” Caractacus snickers as he grabbed a few tools from the desk. “Whatever it is, I look forward to it.”

“You assume it’s for you?” Nevada teases.

“Given what today is: yes,” he twirls a small wrench between his fingers.

“We’ll see about that, Crackpott.”

Caractacus gives a knowing small smile before heading back into his workshop.

Jeremy whispers, “Thanks for not telling him, Mr Nevada.”

“ _De nada_.”

Few minutes later the timer rings and the children pull out the cake layers. As they let them cool, Nevada and the twins get to work on the frosting and frosting. Once finished, they piece together the cake.

“It ok, right?” Jeremy asks when they put all the frosting on the cake.

Nevada remarks, “Not half bad.”

Jemima acknowledges, “I agree, Mr Nevada. Let’s stick some candles on it.”

Jeremy inquires, “Do we have 35 candles?”

Jemima responds, “No, plus that many would be silly, I think.”

“True,” Jeremy says.

“How about these blue and green ones?” Nevada opens a drawer, pulling out a packet of candles. “Your dad seems to like those colours.”

“Good idea!” The twins open the packet. They each take a turn, putting the candles carefully around the cake.

Placing the last candle on the cake, Jemima gives a satisfied nod, “There. _Perfect_!”

Nevada takes the cake and places it in the fridge.

* * *

Dinner came and went, and it was time for dessert.

“Stay right there, Daddy” Jemima orders as she, Jeremy and Nevada get the cake.

Pulling a lighter from his jacket pocket, Nevada lights the candles. He carries out the cake as the twins turn down the lights. They sing “Happy Birthday” to Caractacus, who had the biggest grin on his face. Nevada places down the cake and the other man blows out the candles when they finish the song. When Jeremy turns on the lights, he finds his father with tears in his eyes. “Daddy, are you ok?”

“Perfectly fine, Jem. Is this what I think it is?” He glances at the cake and then at them.

“Cut it and find out, birthday boy,” Nevada hands him a knife.

Caractacus takes the knife and cuts a slice to discover it was a chocolate caramel cake. “By Jove, it is!” He gathers all three into a tight hug. “You three baked this for me?”

“Yes, Daddy,” the twins assert.

“I hope it’s as good as Mummy’s,” Jeremy replies.

He lets them go. “I think she would be proud.” He forks a piece and tries it. “Mmmjust as good as I remember!”

The twins clap with joy while Nevada gives a half-smile as he cuts three more slices. All of them try the cake and agree that it’s fantastic.

Caractacus picks off the candles, “Whose colour scheme idea was this?”

“Mr Nevada’s,” Jemima informs.

“Well now,” Caractacus cocks an eyebrow. He eyes Nevada, who shrugs nonchalantly.

“ _What?_ I know other colours and stuff,” he smirks.

They finish their pieces of cake and Caractacus beams. “This has been the best birthday I’ve had in a very long time.”

“It’s not over yet,” Nevada announces.

“ _Oh?_ ”

“You haven’t received your gifts, Daddy,” Jeremy says.

“You shouldn’t have,” he collects their plates and places them in the sink.

Jemima giggles, “We did!”

“I’m certainly curious now.” He walks back over to them.

Nevada and Jemima grab the gifts they hid in a cabinet. They hand them to Caractacus, who takes a seat.

He opens one that states _‘from Nevada, Jemima, and Jeremy’_. “Oh, wow.” One was a book on the history of automatons and the other was _How Things Work: The Inner Life of Everyday Machines_. “I can’t wait to read these!”

Next were Jeremy’s and Jemima’s gift. As he unwraps it, his eyes widen. “Are these toy cars?”

They nod, “Yep!”

He inspects them. One was painted purple and other sky blue. “And they’re mechanical too? Did you make these?”

“By ourselves,” Jemima says with pride.

He wipes his eyes with a handkerchief.

Jemima stares at him with concern. _“Daddy?”_

“Happy tears, Dove.” He twists the wind-up keys and lets them go into the end of the hallway before they bounce off the door. “Fancy that, they go quite fast!”

Jeremy looks up at his father. “We tried our best.”

“And that’s all I can ask for,” he answers.

Last was Nevada’s gift. He unwraps it to find a small dark blue gift box. Flipping the lid, he finds a very fancy astronomical watch sitting inside. He gasps as he takes it out and examines it. “Nevada, how did you know? I hope it didn’t cost too much.”

Nevada smiles, “It doesn’t matter.”

“I feel guilty accepting this,” Caractacus admits, looking down, blushing.

“Don’t,” Nevada shakes his head as he places a hand on his shoulder, giving it a gentle squeeze.

Caractacus was a little hesitant as he places the watch on his right wrist. “Look at that.”

The twins walk closer and Jeremy observes, “It’s a lovely watch, Daddy.”

“It truly is, my darlings,” he adjusts the hands for date and time. “Perfect.” He rises from his seat and scoops everyone into another tight hug. “Thank you.” He lets go and gives each of them a kiss on the cheek.

“You’re welcome,” they all tell him.

Caractacus gathers the toy cars and books and takes them to the couch in the living room. Nevada and the twins follow him. He sets his gifts on the coffee table. Taking a seat, he pats the couch and they all sit next to him; the twins on the left and Nevada on the right. After he places his arms around their shoulders, he pulls them into a cuddle. “This entire day... I couldn’t have asked for a more perfect day than this.” He looks to the ceiling, “And with that cake I feel like she’s here too.”

“Thank you, Daddy,” the twins say.

“No, thank you,” he says back.

“You’re worth it, Crackpott,” Nevada whispers.

“I heard that,” Caractacus nuzzles him, who rolls his eyes playfully. The twins giggle at the two at them.

Nevada exhales in a content manner as he relaxes into him.

“You three are all I need,” Caractacus announces in an almost sing-song way.

They spent the rest of the night watching light-hearted comedies and Caractacus, inspecting his watch and toy cars. Both the twins and Nevada were glad that Caractacus’ birthday went by perfectly and they wouldn’t have it any other way.

**Author's Note:**

> I meant to post this in September since I headcanon Caractacus' birthday that month but had a ton of distractions and writers' block lol. Three months late is better than not posting I guess haha


End file.
